Posts Tagged ‘sanitation’

One of the many critical factors affecting productivity in Indian soils is the absence of nutrients such as Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphates. Even Carbon is in short supply as well as micro-nutrients such as Zinc and Boron. AA substantial part of our artificial fertilizers is imported and we run up quite a huge bill. Fertilizer prices too are shooting up leading to an imbalance in their application. It has been reported for example that Urea which is relatively cheaper is over applied on soils causing more harm than good.

Cut to urban cities. Sewage treatment plants are coming up in large numbers. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board –the utility responsible for sanitation and sewage, will eventually be setting up 25 sewage treatment plants treating nearly 1100 Million Litres Per day of sewage. These plants will mostly be secondary and tertiary treatment plants. Each million litre of sewage generates nearly a Tonne of sludge. Imagine 1100 Tonnes of sludge will be generated in the city of Bangalore alone. This is 120 truckloads of sludge.

There are smaller sewage treatment plants dotting the landscape in apartments and layouts too. These too generate smaller quantities of sludge. Overall this represents a management challenge of large proportions.

Research: Currently at the GKVK-University of Agricultural Sciences – research work is going on to understand the nutrient value of this sludge. A Ph D student is pursuing her Doctorate and is experimenting on field trials using the sludge as manure. The initial test results show very good amounts of Potassium and Phosphates in the sludge.

Separately sludge is also being picked up from Ecosan toilets. These are source separating composting toilets which segregate urine and solids. The solids are covered with ash after every use and desiccated before application as a fertilizer on soils. Farmers of Kamasamudram and H.D.Kote have such toilets in their homes and are very happy with the fertilizer they get. In fact this compost is priced at Rs 10 a kg.

Sludge sells for upto Rs 10 a kg.

Similarly the landscape of rural India is dotted with pit toilets, more than 130 million of them at the last count. These too accumulate solid sludge and need to be emptied using mechanical systems. They are also found to be rich in Phosphates and Potassium.

All these various forms of sludge will be taken, tested applied on fields and crop productivity tested under expert supervision.

When research and application come together in a spirit of cooperation, it is possible to find solutions for India’s vast water, food and sanitation problems. At the base, this is a nutrient cycle at play. How we scientifically understand and manage it will show us the path to solutions. If every gram of sludge generated in our Sewage Treatment Plants become useful as manure it will partially solve India’s fertilizer needs and eliminate pollution. It will also increase productivity and richness of our soils as well as enhance the livelihood opportunities of farmers.

Recognizing and converting waste to a resource will help thousand of apartments and layouts, small and medium towns and even metropolis to manage their sewage efficiently for reuse and recycling. This would be water wisdom.

Everyday miracles occur in our homes and apartments daily and yet we are oblivious to it. You open the tap in the kitchen sink and fresh clean water flows from it to wash the vegetables for cooking. You go and use the toilet and the flush takes away the waste from your sight cleanly and into a vast underground network of pipes which hopefully will then clean it up in a sewage treatment plant somewhere at the end of it. If anything distinguishes a civilized world from a less civilized one, it is plumbing. The provision of treated piped water inside homes and the taking away of waste-water has been the single largest lifesaver ever, decreasing mortality , increasing life span , reducing morbidity and improving quality of life overall. The great cities of the world are those which have built water supply networks bringing potable water home and underground sewers capable of handling all wastes including for a growing population. The invention of the flush toilet, which many regard as one of the world’s greatest inventions, also called for skilled plumbers to connect them to the sewage systems emerging.

From the days of Harappa and Lothal circa 2500 B.C.E or thereabouts, when the cities had a good sewerage and drainage system, to the current day’s plumbers seem to be a non-formal, ‘learn on the job as you apprentice’ trade. Great cities were built in the past and disappeared into the mists of history. Presently a construction boom grips our cities and yet one of the most crucial jobs that of providing water remains in the hands of a trade where there is no formal training institution and which has not professionalized itself. The most expensive fittings in the market for taps , showers , baths and flushes are put in place by untrained hands.

While it is true that skills not necessarily have to be learnt in formal institutions yet that there is no single poly-technic which teaches plumbing as a formal course to those wanting to enter the job market looks like a missed opportunity for the construction sector. There is also a great need to improve the skills of those who are already in the trade and who would want to take their income earning opportunities to the next level , perhaps even as as contractors or entrepreneurs.

Skill training for plumbers will improve the efficiency of design of buildings, improve water and sanitation handling abilities, ensure fire-safety and ensure the increased life of buildings since leaking water and sanitation lines are one of the biggest culprits for the reduction of life of buildings. Leaking pipes cause fungus and mold to develop and directly impact the health of the occupants. Blockages of pipes and sewers are a nuisance taking tremendous efforts to repair once a problem occurs.

Meanwhile Babu goes about his work in putting in place a new plumbing system for the house recently expanded and a first floor built. He has been in the trade for 13 years. He uses the crudest of methods to heat and join pipes. He has no idea on say putting a siphon type rainwater drain-out pipe which can reduce the diameter of the pipe and thus reduce cost for the owner. He has no clue on how to build a rainwater harvesting system which can collect at least 100,000 litres of rainwater for the building annually. The joints of the drainage pipe are reasonably well done but he has no idea how to have a dual pipe system which can reuse grey-water from the building and recycle it. The building owner and the contractor trust him completely and therefore are condemned to a sub-optimal design for the rest of the life of the building.

The Indian Plumbing Association, a newly formed body, has brought out its own code for plumbing including a Green Plumbers Code. It is valiantly trying to bridge the skill up-gradation and capacity building gap. They need the assistance of many a poly-technic and the skill up-gradation council of India to develop and deliver a special course to bring trained plumbers into the market. The construction sector will only benefit from such an effort as well as employment opportunities for the young in a trade which is life saving and very important. Water wisdom demands that society invest in skilled plumbers. That time is now.

Of all the countries grappling with a sanitation problem India tops the list. The number of households without access to a toilet and defecating in the open is nearly a staggering 50 % of the total households in India according to the census of 2011. Even where there is a toilet many simply discharge into the open drains and do not ensure safe disposal. An economic loss of 6.4 % of the GDP amounting to a staggering 53.8 billion US dollars annually was one estimate by the World Bank in 2006 for India. Another recent study establishes a distinct link between open defecation and stunting of growth in children having far reaching implications for a young population.

It is therefore time to revisit a technology more or less developed and fine tuned in India decades ago and which still continues to be extremely relevant for the sanitation sector. This is the Twin pit pour flush toilet – TPPF- to professionals in the sector.

The whole toilet users world is divided into sitters and squatters.

Then there are wipers and washers. The Indian populace is largely squatters and washers. Keeping this factor in mind the TPPF has been designed. It makes use of an Indian squatting pan with a steep slope that uses just 2-3 litres of water to flush and clean. It has a trap with a water seal, usually a minimum of 20 mm. This constant presence of water in the seal ensures that there is no foul smell that comes back into the toilet and that no insects or cockroaches come into the toilet. A 75 mm diameter to 90 mm diameter pipe then takes the washed material to an inspection chamber. Here a diversion trap is made wherein at a time one pipe is opened.

These pipes lead to twin pits which are generally honeycombed. A typical pit would be about 1 metre in diameter and about 1 .5 metre in depth with a solid cover on top. The washed material from the toilet ends up in one pit at a time. A pit takes about one year to fill. Once one pit is full at the diversion chamber the pipeline to this pit is blocked and the other pipe is opened to allow the second pit to fill. The distance between the pits is usually at least a minimum of the depth of one pit i.e. about 1.5 mt. This of course depends on the space available.

While it takes one year for the second pit to fill in the meantime through process of bacterial action the first pit is sanitized for most bacteria, virus and worms. This can then be emptied usually using mechanical evacuation methods such as that of the vacuum trucks called Honeysuckers. The emptied material especially in rural areas can be further composted and used as an excellent fertilizer by farmers.

The superstructure of the TPPF can be permanently done with brick or concrete blocks and a roof of sheet or RCC. In other places they can also be temporary with just privacy ensured for use. Typically a TPPF toilet should cost around Rs 10,000 in most places in India.

Water should be made available only in small buckets of 3 litres for ablutions as well as for pour flushing. This will ensure that excess water is not poured into the pit.

Pits can be designed in high water table areas with a concrete bed and with a 50 cm sand cushion all around. The pits should also be a minimum distance of 8 metres from a water source such as a well or a Borewell. Pits can also be lined with charcoal and limestone to further improve performance and remove pollutants.

Experience has shown that a well designed TPPF can provide safe sanitation and containment of excreta and over the life cycle it can also be much safer than toilets connected to underground sewage treatments with no treatment plants which end up contaminating and polluting water bodies such as rivers and lakes.

In urban areas for those without access to sanitation such as construction workers and in rural areas where open defecation is the norm the TPPF should be pursued and made mandatory for all to use, Skills in its construction also can be developed rather easily .

It is time we revisited this sanitation technology seriously and managed it in a safe manner so that all of India becomes open defecation free, safe sanitation is practiced and the health benefits accrue to all especially the young generation.

1. Building bye-laws should recognize and insist on the provision of a rainwater harvesting recharge well within the site.

2. Building bye-laws should also recognize that non-sewered areas will have to make provision for two concrete ring lined pits for sanitation waste. One pit for black water and one pit for grey water. These can be mechanically emptied using vacuum trucks. The pits too should be located within the site of the building and not be allowed to discharge into storm water drains for public safety, health and hygiene.

Building bye-laws help regulate and maintain a certain discipline regarding the management of water and waste-water in urban areas apart from their role as a major urban planning tool.

Some of the good things they do are for example the insistence on identifying a toilet of a minimum dimension in any house construction before approval .In the Bangalore context rainwater harvesting is made mandatory and the building approval plan to be submitted has to show the recharge structure that is to be implemented.

It is surprising therefore that they miss out on some basics and do not refine the old. Take the rainwater harvesting detail that the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike insists on. This is how the design looks like, a recharge pit filled with crushed stone and sand with a splash pad on top.

In the days were sand dredging or mining has caused devastation to rivers and soil why insist on an archaic design that uses sand and gravel inside it? The design by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is much better, a recharge well with no sand inside it. It works perfectly well and in fact, if the hydro-geology favours, a recharge well can easily become a withdrawal well. This building bye-law for a recharge well instead of a sand filled pit can easily be made mandatory for all the towns in Karnataka.

Sanitation: While building plans sent for approval have to show toilets, unfortunately there is no insistence on clearly indicating how the waste is to be disposed. While larger buildings and apartments have Sewage Treatment Plants made mandatory, the smaller ones do not have to show any system of appropriate waste disposal. Since septic tanks are costly precast concrete ring pits are used commonly as they cheap and easy to install. Unfortunately most buildings make only a single large pit located outside the house on the pavement or even sometimes the roads. This makes it very difficult for future road works or for water supply and sewage lines to be placed when infrastructure finally arrives in that area.

To remedy this situation the building bye-laws should insist that each building have two pits for sanitary waste disposal. One of the pits should be for the toilets and one for the grey water. The pits can have a small PVC pipe fit to the covering lid to enable emptying using the vacuum trucks called Honey-suckers. The pits should accessible and located appropriately to the front or to the side of the building.

This one insistence in the bye-law can eliminate the scourge of manual scavenging, clean up the storm water drains and improve the hygiene of our small towns dramatically reducing the disease burden.

It is time for building bye-laws to recognize reality and become water wise.

In the second case a determined drive by an IAS officer called Manjula who was the then DC of Bangalore Rural District , persuaded recalcitrant elected reps and govt officials at the Gram Panchayat and village level to talk to people and persuade them to build toilets. People by and large put in the effort and built toilets and sometimes bathrooms too putting in their own money.

In the first case , though toilets have been built they are not used since people prefer the great outdoors.

On the other hand efforts are being made to build Ecosan toilets so that farmers too can benefit from the toilets .

It is not only Bill and Melinda who are funding innovation in the toilet business :).

When millions of people all across India start to build toilets in rural areas and in small towns they do not have a sewerage system to connect to. They usually build a single pit lined with concrete rings and connect the toilet to it. In India the toilets too are pour flush toilets and not the dry toilets prevalent across much of Africa.

Eventually these pits do fill up, depending on many factors such as the depth of the toilet pit , the number of users, their diet , the soils ability to infiltrate water etc etc.

The pan for an Indian toilet – this has a water seal too

A single pit toilet lined with pre-cast concrete rings

Eventually they will fill up

Jugaad to the rescue – These tablets if placed in a full pit will ‘burn’ it and reduce the filling making it possible to use the pit for more time

These are called ‘pit medicine’ in Kannada and are available across many small towns. Each set costs Rs 50 ( 1 US $) and is a single time use.

Taa-daah …Honey-sucker to the rescue. Will empty the pit toilet in minutes.

Now imagine a set of tablets which can also sterilize the pit content and kill all pathogens . The pit sludge can then be easily removed using the ‘Honey-sucker ‘ and spread out on the fields in the rural areas and in the small towns to act as fertilizer for the crops.

..and oh by the way , one of the fastest growing business around small towns and villages is in these pre-cast concrete ring making. All you need is an empty site , a steel mould for pouring the concrete , some cement and GI wires /streel rods and you are in business. As there is a huge government push for sanitation demand is picking up in villages for these rings for the toilet pit

All over South India , in small towns and large villages, concrete rings for pit toilets are being made